Malcolm Gladwell, best selling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, was recently interviewed at Toronto Public Library’s Appel Salon. The more than hour-long conversation touched upon a range of topics, including entrepreneurship.

When asked to explain his views on morality in entrepreneurship, Gladwell says that “the greatest entrepreneurs are amoral” and promptly clarifies not to confuse this with being immoral. He gives the example of L’Oréal’s founder, Eugene Schueller who was a documented Nazi collaborator during WWII. Gladwell says, “The reason Schueller collaborated with Nazis…is not that he’s a Nazi- he’s not a Nazi – he’s never thought more than five minutes about politics. He only cares about one thing, which is L’Oréal. He says, ‘the only way I can keep this company going is by playing nice with the Nazi’s. I’m going to play nice with the Nazi ...